Deceased



H. HOUGHTONQ Annunciator.

Patented March 20, 1849.

w. 5 Q? E K UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTG,

H. I-IOUGHTON, LATE or TRUXTON, NEW YORK, DEoEAsED; LUCRETIA r-iouerrrox, ADMINISTRATRIX.

BELL-TELEGRAPH.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 6,202, dated March 20, 1849.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, HARVEY HoUGI-rroN, of the town of Truxton, in the county of Cortland and State of New York, have invented a new and useful machine for announcing the yeas and nays in deliberative bodies and which can also be used advantageously as a substitute for the bells to call servants at present in use in hotels and private dwellings and for other purposes, of which the following is a full and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings of the same, making part of this specification, in which ters, or other distinguishing devices on one side, the other side being blank and in all the tablets of an uniform appearance, and connecting these several tablets and bell with the seats of the different members of a legislative body, or the different rooms of a dwelling by wires and cranks in a manner similar to that in which bells are usually arranged, so that by pulling a handle the corresponding tablet will be turned to expose the word yea or nay, or other device that may be upon it, at the same time ringing the bell to attract attention where it may be deemed advisable to do so, but whenever it is preferred the bell may be dispensed with. As soon as an announcement has been made, and cognizance taken of it, the person whose duty it is to attend to the apparatus pulls a handle which turns all the tablets with their blank sides outward so that the machine may be ready for another announcement.

In the accompanying drawings the frame or case (a) of the machine resembles that of a clock and may be made of any suitable material, the face as represented in F 1 appears as if a person in a room, or else where, corresponding with the figure had turned the tablet marked 4 with the number outwards to announce his wants, and as if a person in a room corresponding to the tablet marked 8 were in the act of turning that tablet.

Fig. 2 exhibits the mechanism by which the motions of the several parts are produced and the manner in which they are combined together; the tablets l, 2, 8, at, are placed in apertures in the face and turn on vertical axes passing through their middle, on the upper and lower edges of each tablet a hinged lever b and a stop 0 are placed, the levers on the upper edge of the tablets being connected with wires (20', 00, 3 a) by pulling which the blank sides of the tablets are turned outward, and the levers (w, 02, y, .2 on the lower sides are connected with the pull wires (10 3 00 2 communicating with the room or place whence an announce ment is to be made when these last wires are pulled, the sides of the tablets having devices on them are turned outward, and the bell (d) is at the same time rung to attractattention, by the raising of the hammer i by the arm 0 and catch f attached thereto, which is held upon the end of the bent lever h to which the hammer is suspended by a spring 9 until detached by its lower end, which is bent, coming into contact with the bar 7', the bar 6 is raised and the bell rung as often as the wires w .71 g e are either of them pulled; the hammer when drawn back is caused to return and strike the hell by the spring is which is attached to it by the hook r.

When a tablet has been turned and the attendant has taken cognizance thereof, he pulls the knob Z which reverses the tablet again by pulling the wires 20 a" 'y e and until the knob is thus pulled the device on the tablet will be exposed, which arrangement precludes the possibility of the wants of the person ringing the bell being disregarded from the turning the tablet. again before it is noticed that the bell was rung, as might be the case if the tablets were after a time turned by the mechanism of the apparatus.

The mechanism by which the tablets are turned and the bell rung may be constructed and arranged in various ways to produce the same results, but I believe that the presentarrangement will be found to be as good, if not better than any other that can be adopted.

One of the many advantages which this machine possesses is its great simplicity and dispensing with the use of springs altogether save the helix (g) in the setting of with the Wires, springs and levers for turning them, arranged substantially 111 the manner and for the purpose herein described.

HARVEY HOUGHTON.

Witnesses ALVAH RIsLEY,

CHAs. POMEROY. 

